Pyotr Ilyich Klimuk ( be, Пётр Ільіч Кліму́к; russian: Пётр Ильич Климу́к; born 10 July 1942) is a former

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and the first Belarusian to perform space travel. Klimuk made three flights into space. From 1991 to 2003, he headed the

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for trai ...

Life

Klimuk attended the Leninski Komsomol Chernigov High Aviation School and entered the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

in 1964. The following year, he was selected to join the space programme. His first flight was a long test flight on Soyuz 13 in 1973. This was followed by a mission to the

Salyut 4 Salyut 4 (DOS 4) (russian: Салют-4; English translation: Salute 4) was a Salyut space station launched on December 26, 1974 into an orbit with an apogee of 355 km, a perigee of 343 km and an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. It ...

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...

Soyuz 18 Soyuz 18 (russian: Союз 18, ''Union 18'') was a 1975 Soviet crewed mission to Salyut 4, the second and final crew to man the space station. Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov set a new Soviet space endurance record of 63 days and the mar ...

in 1975. From 1976 he became involved in the

Intercosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

and made his third and final spaceflight on an Intercosmos flight with Polish cosmonaut

Mirosław Hermaszewski Mirosław Hermaszewski (; 15 September 1941 – 12 December 2022) was a Polish cosmonaut, fighter plane pilot, and Polish Air Force officer. He became the first, and at the time of his death in December 2022, the only, Polish national in spac ...

Soyuz 30 Soyuz 30 (russian: Союз 30, ''Union 30'') was a 1978 crewed Soviet space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the sixth mission to and fifth successful docking at the orbiting facility.The mission report is available here: http://www. ...

in 1978.Biographies of USSR / Russian Cosmonauts: Klimuk
Spacefacts.de. Retrieved on 4 August 2012. He resigned from the cosmonaut team in 1978 to take up a position as the Assistant to the Chief of the

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for train ...

. In 1991 he was promoted to Chief of that facility and remained in that post until retirement in 2003. Klimuk is a graduate of the

Gagarin Air Force Academy Gagarin Air Force Academy () is a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino, Moscow Oblast. The academy prepares high-ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force. Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet ...

and the

Lenin Military-Political Academy The V. I. Lenin Military-Political Academy ( (VPA)) was a higher military educational institution of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1919 to 1991 that provided advanced training to political workers. History The predecessor of the academy was ...

. He is the author of two books on human spaceflight: ''Beside the Stars'', and ''Attack on Weightlessness''.

Honours and awards

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

, twice (1973, 1975) *

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR The honorary title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR (russian: Летчик-космонавт СССР) was a state award of the Soviet Union presented to all cosmonauts who flew for the Soviet Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction w ...

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

; **3rd class (2 March 2000) – a great service to the state in the development of manned space flight **4th class (1996) * Three

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(1973, 1975, 1978) *

Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, 3rd class (1984) *

Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (russian: Медаль "За заслуги в освоении космоса") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established ...

(12 April 2011) – for the great achievements in the field of research, development and use of outer space, many years of diligent work, public activities * Order "For Service to Motherland", 2nd class (Belarus, 15 July 2002) – for services to develop and strengthen scientific, technological and military cooperation *

Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus) The Order of Friendship of Peoples () is a state award of the Republic of Belarus. It is the highest award of the Republic of Belarus for foreign citizens. Statute of the order The Order of Friendship of Peoples is awarded to citizens: * for a ...

(16 July 2007) – for his significant contribution to strengthening the friendly relations and cooperation between Belarus and the Russian Federation *

Cross of Grunwald The Order of the Cross of Grunwald (') was a military decoration created in Poland in November 1943 by the High Command of Gwardia Ludowa, a World War II Polish resistance movement organised by the Polish Workers Party. On 20 February 1944 it ...

, 1st class (NDP, 1978) *

Order of Parasat The Order of Parasat ( kk, Парасат ордені, ''Parasat ordeni''; the Order of Nobility) is an order awarded by the government of Kazakhstan. It was established in 1993. The order is awarded to notable figures in the fields of science, ...

(Kazakhstan, 1995) * Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

(France, 2004) * Medal, "Brotherhood in Arms", twice (Poland) * Medal "For the strengthening of friendship in Arms", 1st class (Czechoslovakia) * Medal "100th anniversary of the fall of the Ottoman yoke" (NRB) * Medal "from the grateful people of Afghanistan" (1988) *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1978) – for his work on medical justification and implementation of complex methods and means of preventing the adverse effects of weightlessness on the human body, allowing for the possibility of prolonged manned space flights *

Lenin Komsomol Prize Lenin Komsomol Prize () was a Soviet annual award for the best works in science, engineering, literature or art carried out by young authors of age not exceeding 33 years. Komsomol was the abbreviated name of The Communist Union of Youth (Russia ...

(1978) – script for the documentary "Common Space" * Tsiolkovski Gold Medal *

Gagarin Gold Medal Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...

* Gold Medal from the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

* Honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga, Gagarin, and Dzhezkasgan

Books

*
The official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klimuk, Pyotr Ilyich 1942 births Living people People from Brest District Soviet cosmonauts 1973 in spaceflight Heroes of the Soviet Union Soviet Air Force officers Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st class Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the USSR State Prize Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Recipients of the Order of Parasat Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Recipients of the Medal of Zhukov Lenin Military Political Academy alumni Salyut program cosmonauts